January the 28th in Theatrical History

In 1891 'The Stranger' by Wilson Barrett was revived at the New Olympic theatre. Barrett (1846-1904) was a playwright specialising in Victorian melodrama, he managed the Grand Theatre Leeds, The Old Court Theatre, The Princess's Theatre London and the aforementioned New Olympic.

The circumstances in which The Stranger was staged proved to be at the end of the melodrama craze that had swept Victorian theatre. It would be one of Barretts last successes in the UK and he would have to tour America in the years before his death until he came upon his next production. His next production would become his legacy 'The Sign of the Cross' which was a huge success on Broadway and back in the UK. It continues to be his legacy as it was eventually turned into the third part of Cecil B. DeMilles trilogy which also includes The Ten Commandments and The King of Kings under the same title Sign of the Cross. It helped lead the way in Epic film and greatly influenced many future films including Ben Hur and Spartacus.

January the 27th in Theatrical History

(portraint by Jean-Francois Gilles Colson)

On this date in 1720 Samuel Foote was born in Cornwall. Foote would become both a playwright and an actor eventually running the Haymarket Theatre. Foote was known as a great wit and in 1748 he wrote the play 'An Auction of Pictures' which was a satire based on the infamous satirist Henry Fielding, this led to a famous war of words and wit. However when Foote began a quarrell with another actor it led to a riot at the Haymarket Theatre. There are a few missing Foote plays but the latest one to have been published was Piety in Patterns which was finally published in 1973 which should show us all that there is hope for those supposed 'lost plays' that they maybe locked away in some private collection or library somewhere.

In 1845 'The Green Bushes' was produced at the Adelphi theatre by John Baldwin Buckstone. The play included two stanzas of the popular English folk song Green Bushes. Buckstone wrote over 150 plays and rose to be the lessee of the Haymarket Theatre and he is now said to be haunting that same theatre appearing in the wings watching something that he finds particularly good or amusing. Sightings of his ghost have even been reported by actors including Patrick Stewart.



January the 26th in Theatrical History

In 1833 'The Nervous Man' was first produced at Drury Lane. In Figaro in London, a weekly comic paper which ran from 1831 to 1839, there is a full review of the play. It is referred to as a 'trifling though rather an amusing production' and is listed as a farce. The review mentions the acting and has one of my favourite analysis of a performance in a long time:

 "Mrs Humby whom the reporters delight to call pretty, has a part in the Nervous Man, and as a disgusting manner peculiar to the pertest of bar-maids is all that is neccessary, she acquitted herself well; that is, she was as vulgar as her salary requires"

So far in my research I have been unable to define who wrote said play but in the National Standard, of literature, science, music, theatricals and the fine arts it has a very interesting paragraph which reads:

"The Nervous Man (yet unpublished) at Edinburgh, without obtaining the consent of, or affording the slightest advantage to, the writer; thus, the piece runs for the benefit of the manager and the player, but for the 'poor devil author' he may starve in holes and corners"

So whilst The Nervous Man was allowing the unknown author to be paid when it played at Drury Lane halfway through its run in London the producer and actor Mr Power was recalled to Scotland and just put it on in Edinburgh without giving the author his cut of the profits. A shady dealing which helped lead to the introduction of laws to protect copywright.

In 1871 Oscar Asche (1871-1936) was born. He was an Australian actor who is probably best known for writing the popular Musical 'Chu Chin Chow' based on the story of 'Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves' which was last produced in London at the Finborough Theatre in 2008.

Zach Braff on BBC Breakfast this Morning

(Photo courtesy of http://www.zachbraff.com/)

So this morning on BBC Breakfast Zach Braff, of Scrubs fame, appeared to promote his latest venture a play in the West End. The play is titled 'All New People' and was written by Braff himself. It opens in London on the 22nd of February at the Duke of Yorks Theatre in St Martins Lane.

The play was developed by the Off Broadway Theatre Company 2ST aka Second Stage Company a company that began in the late 70's giving plays that may not have been successful the first time around a second chance on a New York stage. Braff returned to the stage in 2010 after 8 years away in the play Trust by Paul Weitz and it was this link and this company that inspired him to write his own work. He did not appear in the New York version but agreed to play the lead role in a transfer from America to the West End saying that it was a dream of his to perform in London. Zach Braff is well known for being the zany J.D in TV's Scrubs but is also an acclaimed film writer whose 2004 directorial debut Garden State was an Indie Film hit both financially and critically. He has moved away from Scrubs slightly in the past few years becoming more of a guest character and has been working towards more film directing and writing as evidenced by his latest project 'Open Heart' a remake of a Danish thriller and an original film written by himself called 'Swingles'.

The fact is Braff is a very talented actor, he is perhaps the best actor around today at juggling comedy and pathos equally. His play is centred around a depressed young man and is a comedy so he is in a perfect position he cannot really lose. Is Braff playing to type? Yes. Is that a bad thing? No. I always feel if someone is good at one genre and people are willing to pay to watch them do that one thing then by all means do it. Braff is taking the opportunity to tour his play internationally and to perform in it himself, not many American television stars or directors would take such a risk. The good thing is this play thanks to Braff has a built in audience due to the success and popularity in this country of Scrubs especially with the teenagers who watch E4. Scrubs has taken over the position in this country enjoyed by Friends for over 10 years and has become the teenage sitcom so this show will definitely shift some tickets. Normally I would rag on American actors coming over here to perform in a play as a gimmick but this time I think that would be unfair, it is a new piece of work which was well received in New York and with its sitcom style jokes and layout I think this will be an unchallenging piece of theatre that could engage young adults and teenagers without having to be a Musical. If only there were more shows like this for younger people to see, the point is sometimes we want to see something we're familiar with and currently the British young person is at a point where the American sitcom is a very accessible form of media and they understand it incredibly well. The old fashioned hard hitting drama isn't pulling in a massive amount of punters to the theatre so why not try the sitcom route, why not try writing a sitcom play for a change set here in the UK. This show could be incredibly popular and I am wishing I had tickets to see the performance just to see how the sitcom style works in a live theatre environment. Zach Braff will be good I am certain of it and he seems very enthusiastic about the entire enterprise and as the show will be hitting Glasgow and Manchester first it really seems as if its not about the money for this Hollywood star. If you liked 'Garden State' and 'Scrubs' I reckon you can't really go wrong buying tickets for this show. 

For ticket information for the Glasgow and Manchester runs please click on the relevent cities name.

For ticket information regarding the West End run please click here.